Rosatum--Rose Wine--Eubulus, the Greek comic poet, reminds us that, “the first cup of wine is for health, the second for love and pleasure. the third for sleep: here all should go home. The fourth is for wildness, the fifth for’ shouting. the sixth for riot, the seventh for black eyes. the eighth for police, the ninth for anger. the tenth for insanity.”

Rose wine. Rose wine you will make like this: Thread together rose-leaves from which the white part has been removed, and steep as many as possible in wine for seven days. After seven days take the rose-leaves out of the wine, and in the same way put in other fresh rose leaves threaded together, to rest seven days in wine, then take them out. Repeat a third time, take out the rose-leaves, strain the wine, and, when you want to use it for drinking, add honey to make rose wine. But take care to use the best rose-leaves, when the dew has dried off them. Make violet wine in the same way as above, and mix with honey in the same way.

Rose Wine

2 bottles red wine

1/4 cup honey

1/8 tsp. rose water

2 fresh roses (old fashioned pink), washed

Pour the wine into a punch bowl. Add the honey and rose water, and stir gently. Scatter the petals from the two fresh roses over the surface of the wine. Serve in individual glasses, cups or goblets. Serves 4-6

Alexandrian Cumin Bread*--I could not find a recipe for this particular bread per se in the book that I have but I did find a reference to it "Alexandrian bread was presumably a bread invented by the people of Alexandria, possibly made of grain from there. It contained according to Pliny (Nat. Hist., XX, 15, 58 (163)), cumin.

Alexandrian Cumin Bread

3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour

1 package dried yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cumin seed ground

1 cup plus 3 ounces lukewarm water

Place the flour, yeast, salt and ground cumin in a large mixing bowl. Blend well. Add the water, and mix the dough for 2-3 minutes. Until all the water is absorbed and evenly distributed. The dough will be damp and very sticky, but no internal dry areas should appear by the end of the mixing, if they do, mix a few minutes more or add a little more water and mix again.

Let the dough rest 5 minutes. Now sprinkle 1 or 2 tablespoons flour over the dough and knead, either in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and slightly sticky (add more flour if needed). Let dough rest for 2 minutes more. The dough should now be very smooth and easy to handle. Knead 30 seconds more, return the dough to the bowl, cover the bowl with a dish towel or large plate and let rise at room temperature at least 3 hours. The dough should almost triple in size.

Flour the top of the dough lightly and punch it down, remove the dough from the bowl, form the dough into a rectangular loaf and place in a well greased loaf pan, 9 1/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches. Cover with a towel and let rise 1 hour until nicely risen.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 35 minutes, or until browned on top. The bottom should sound hollow when tapped with one finger. Yield: 1 Loaf.

Sala Cattabia, Another Method. Hollow out an Alexandrian loaf, soak in water mixed with vinegar. Put in the mortar pepper, honey, mint, garlic, fresh coriander, salted cows milk cheese, water and oil. <arrange similar ingredients as in two previous recipes (trust me...no chicken liver or goat sweetbreads will be present ;-P >, cool in snow, and serve.

Prepare the bread loaf to make a "box" witha detached cover: With a long sharp knife, make an incision through the top crust of the loaf parallel with one end of hte loaf about 1/2 inch from that end. Leaving a half inch border all around the loaf, remove carefully the top crust. Cut and pull out the soft part of the bread, try to make a container with interior walls as straight as possible, leaving 1/2 inch thick sides and a 1/2 inch thick bottom. Leave the top crust 1/4 inch thick.

Sprinkle the interior of the boxed loaf and the underside of it's top crust or the cover with the vinegar mixed with one ounce cold water. Fill the box first with a layer of chicken, sliced cucumbers, cheese, pine nuts, capers and chopped onion.

Combine the pepper, honey, mint, garlic, coriander and 1/4 cup olive oil, mix well and pour into the box. Replace top crust, and chill the entire loaf in the refrierator or in snow, 1 hour. Slice and serve. Serves 8

*to serve fill a bowl with "snow" (shaved ice), lay the loaf on a plate, and lay the plate on the snow. The use of snow and garlic suggest that this dish is from non-urban origins.

*the recipe suggests that this could be prepared ahead of time and served cold or room temp, or served immediately warmed.

Roman Coleslaw

1 medium cabbage

3 ounces olive oil

1 tablespoon liquamen*

1 tbs. white wine

1tsp. caraway seeds

1 leek, trimmed and chopped fine

1 coriander leaf chopped

S&P to taste

Peel off the tough outer layers of the cabbage and core the remainder. Boil the cabbage in enough water to cover 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain, then rinse in cold water until cool, drain again and chop well.

Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over the chopped cabbage. Mix well and serve. Serves 8

Lentils with Chestnuts <Boil the lentils> Take a new saucepan and put in the carefully cleaned chestnuts. Add water and a little cooking-soda. Put on the fire to cook. When cooked put in the mortar pepper, cumin, coriander-seed, mint, rue, asafoetida root, and pennyroyal; pound. Moisten with vinegar, add honey and liquamen, blend with vinegar, and pour over the cooked chestnuts. Add oil, bring to the boil. When it is boiling well, stir. <Mix with the lentils.> Taste: if something is missing, add it. When you have put it in the serving-dish add best oil.

Lentils with Chestnuts

1 cup lentils, washed

12 chestnuts

1/4 tsp. each grd, pepper, coriander, cumin

1 tsp. mint

1/4 tsp. fresh rue (opt.)

1/4 tsp. pennyroyal (opt. *pennyroyal is an abortificant and should not be used or eaten by those expecting babies. I will not be using it in this feast, but include it here for historic purpose.)

pinch asafetida (opt.)

1 ounce wine vinegar

1 ounce honey

1 tablespoon liquamen*

1 ounce olive oil

If the lentils are not pre soaked, cover them with water and soak overnight, drain. Boil the lentils in 3 cups water for 30-40 minutes, or until tender. Drain any excess water. Meanwhile boil chestnuts in water for 20 minutes. Drain. Rinse under cold water, then peel back the outer shell and inner skins from both haves. Add the chestnut halves to the lentils, then add remaining ingredients and stir well. Heat thoroughly and serve warm. If desired, add more honey, oil, wine, or salt. Serves 8

Another Method: Make a mixture of boiled spelt-grits and coarsely minced meat that has been pounded with pepper, liquamen, and pine-kernels. Stuff a sausage skin and boil. Then grill with salt and serve with mustard, or serve boiled cut up on a round dish.

*Mustard according to Columella, De re Rustica, XII, 57

Carefully clean mustard seed and sift, then wash in cold water and when well washed leave for two hours in the water. Then remove, press it with your hands and put in a new or a thoroughly cleaned mortar, add pine-kernals which should be as fresh as possible and almonds, pound carefully and pour vinegar on.

Chop the meat into small pieces about the size of pine nuts. Transfer into a bowl and pound well with a mallet or pestle. Add the cooked bulgur, pepper, liquamen and pine nuts. Pound again. If your liquamen is weak, you may want to add a little salt to the mixture.

Stuff this sausage mixture into small sausage casings, making 12 3inch by 1 inch sausages. If sausage casings are unavailable. Use cheesecloth.

Simmer sausages in 1/2 inch water for 1 hour covered, turning them occasionally. Remove from the water and unwrap carefully.

Now place the unwrapped sausages on a charcoal grill, sprinkle with a little salt and grill for 15 minutes, turning them gently. Serve with prepared mustard. Makes 12 sausages.

*if using cheescloth in place of organic sausage casings, cut cheesecloth(double thickness) into twelve 8" x 5" rectangles. Brush them with 1/2 pound (1 cup) melted shortening. Then form one sausage from the meat mixture with your hands and place at the base of one rectangle along the smaller edge. Roll up the cheesecloth tightly, making sure that the sausage maintains it's cylindrical shape. Tie each end of the sausage with a string, first twisting lightly to make the sausage compact. Repeat.

Mensae Primae-- the Main Coarse--the primae mensae were devoted to roast and boiled meats, poultry and meat delicacies (some of which could be used in gustatio). During this course wine was drunk, usually mixed with water and in moderate quantities.

Stuffed Chicken. Draw chicken --as for chicken in liquamen--from the neck. Pound pepper, lovage, ginger, chopped meat, boiled spelt-grits; pound a brain cooked in stock, break eggs into it, and work all this into a smooth mixture. Blend with liquamen and add a little oil, whole peppercorns, and plenty of pine-kernels. Stuff with this mixture a chicken or a sucking pig, leaving a little room. You can use the same stuffing also for capon. Cook it with the bones removed.

Bone the chicken as follows: cut off the wings at tips. Slit the skin of the chicken down the middle of the breast, then pull the skin down each side of the bird all the way to the legs. Try not to tear the skin. Separate the breast meat from the underlying breast bone and ribcage on each side. Remove the breat meat and put aside. Cut out the breast bone and ribs from the chicken and discard. Also remove the wishbone. Lastly, find the long white tendon in each half of the breast meat and pull it out of the meat, discard the tendon. The chicken is now ready to stuff.

Boil the bulgur in the water to cover until tender. Drain. Cut the meat into very fine bits an dpound well, if using ground meat you may omit this step. Combine the meat with ground pepper, ginger, celery leaves, bulgur and brain, blend well. You may not need all of the bulgur, depending upon the size of the chicken. Add the egg, liquamen, oil, peppercorns and pine nuts to the mixture and mix thoroughly. Now fill the cavity of the chicken with the mixture. Drape the breast meat over the filling and reconstruct the original shape of the chicken. Gently stretch the skin back over the breast and sew the skin together. Also sew closed the neck and rear openings. Place chicken in a roasting pan and cook at 350 degree's for approximately one hour, 15 minutes or until liquid runs clear when pierced with a fork (about 25 minutes per pound).

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven, take out the stitching and place on a serving dish. Serve the sauce separately. Serves 4

Trimalchio's Pastry Eggs *I could not find a period recipe in the books I have, so offer up this selection from Petronius' Satyricon to support this dish.*

"...a tray was brought in with a basket on it. There sat a wooden hen, its wings spread round it the way hens are when they are broody. Two slaves hurried up and as the orchestra played a tune they began searching through the straw and dug out peahens' eggs, which they distributed to the guests.

Trimalchio turned to look at this little scene and said: 'My friends, I gave orders for that bird to sit on some peahens' eggs. I hope to goodness they are not starting to hatch. However, let's try them and see if they are still soft.'

We took up our spoons (weighing at least half a pound each) and cracked the eggs, which were made of rich pastry. To tell the truth, I nearly threw away my share, as the chicken seemed already formed. But I heard a guest who was an old hand say: 'There should be something good here.' So I searched the shell with my fingers and found the plumpest little figpecker, all covered with yolk and seasoned with pepper."

Trimalchio's Pastry Eggs

4 Large eggs, hard boiled and cooled

8 small (1 inch) shrimp, shelled and deveined

2 tsp. liquamen*

1 1/2 cups flour

3 ounces olive oil

1 egg

1 tablespoon cold water.

Cover the shrimp with water and boil about 10 minutes, until thoroughly cooked. Drain. Shell the hardboiled eggs. Cut off the top of each egg where the yolk begins. Carefully scoop out the yolk, leaving the white intact. Reserve the white "caps". Mix the yolks with the liquamen. Place two shrimp in the hollow of each egg white and cover them with some of the egg youlk mixture. Do not overstuff. Replace the "caps".

Prepare the pastry, blend thoroughly the flour, oil and egg and mix well. Add cold water. The dough should be slightly sticky. Divide the dough into four pieces and shape each piece by pressing with your palms, they should be circles of a 6inch diameter. Wrap a circle of dough around each egg. Patch or trim the dough as necessary. Transfer to a bakinc pan, place in a preheated 400 degree oven and bake until they are crusted brown and beginning to split. Serve with any sauce used for chickent. Serves 4

Chop leeks, coriander, cumin, raisins, add flour, and add all this to the pith <of the incised beets>. Thicken, and serve with liquamen, oil and vinegar.

Raisin-stuffed Beets

4 large beets, trimmed

1 leek or green onion, trimmed and chopped

2 coriander leaves, chopped (opt)

1 tsp. cumin seed, ground

1/2 cup raisins

2 tsp. flour

1 ounce liquamen*

1 ounce olive oil

1 ounce vinegar

With a small knife or apple corer cut out the center of each beet, start your cut from the top of the beet. The amount removed from each beet should be the size of an apple core--a cylinder about 1/2 inch in diameter and about 2 inches long. Do not go through the bottom of the beet. Discard cores.

Combine the chopped leek, coriander leaves, cumin and flour. Chop the raisins fine and add them to the mixture, blend well.

Stuff each beet with 1/4 of the raisin mixture and place all in a saucepan small enough so that they can stand upright without falling over. Add water to the pan until the water reaches halfway up the beats. Sprinkle a little water into the stuffed cavities. Bring toa boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until tender.

When the beets are cooked, transfer them onto a serving plate. Mix together liquamen, oil, vinegar and pour over beets. Serves4 (8)

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the carrots, stir fry for approximately 4 minutes until tender crisp. Transfer the carrots with their oil to a serving dish. Mix together liquamen, wine, and honey and spices, and pour over the carrots. Serves 4 (8)

Another Method. Cover the leeks with cabbage-leaves and cook in a red hot coal. Serve as above. (served with oil, liquamen and wine)

Char-Broiled Leeks

4 leeks (white part only) trimmed

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine

1 tablespoon liquamen*

Wrap each leek in it's own piece of aluminum foil, make sure no part of it is exposed. Place the wrapped leeks amidst hot charcoals for 10 minutes. Take up the packages, unwrap them, and place the leeks in a serving dish. Mix together the oil, wine, and liquamen, and pour this mixture over the leeks. Serves 4 (8)

*note--to prepare this dish authentically, cover 1 head of cabbage with water and boil for 7 minutes to soften. Drain, rinse under cold water. Wrap one cabbage leaf around one piece of leek. If the leeks are excessively long, you may have to cut them in half crosswise. If any part of the leek is exposed, wrap a second cabbage leaf around the first. Cook as you would the aluminum foil wrapped leeks by placing amidst hot coals for 10 minutes. Discard the burnt cabbage.

Apothermum. Make as follows. Boil spelt-grits with pine-kernels and almonds skinned, soaked, and washed with chalk used for cleaning silver, so as to render them equally white. Into this mix raisins, caroenum or passum, sprinkle ground pepper on top, and serve in a serving dish (boletar).

*to be historically authentic, this dish would have to be made from emmer wheat groats, but emmer wheat is hard to come by, so bulgar has been substituted which is readily available.Bulger with Nuts and Raisins

1 cup bulgur, washed

1 1/2 cups water

2 tbsp. pine nuts

2 tbsp. blanched almonds

1/4 cup. raisins

1 ounce sweet wine or grape juice

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Bring the bulgur to a boil in the water along with the pine nuts and almonds. Simmer for 15 minutes until bulgur is tender, but not mushy, all the water should be absorbed. Drain if necessary. Add the raisins, sweet wine or grapejuice, and the pepper, mix well and transfer to a serving dish. Serves 4 (8)

*note--modern taste may prefer a sprinkling of salt when serving this.

Home Made Sweet. Stone dates, and stuff with nuts, pine kernels or ground pepper. Roll in salt, fry in cooked honey, and serve

Stuffed Dates in Honey

20 pitted dates

1/4 cup honey

10 almonds, blanched

salt

Split the almonds in half lengthwise. Stuff each date with one almond half. Heat the honey in a small saucepan. When the honey begins to foam up, roll each date in salt, and drop into the honey. Cook briefly in the honey, but do not let the honey start to carmelize. With a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the dates from the honey and lay them on a lightly oiled dish, let cool, then serve. Yield 20 dates.

*note--as a rule Romans preferred the taste of sweets sprinkled with ground pepper. One variation of this recipe suggests stuffing the dates with pepper.

Boil the anchovies, water, oregano, and salt over high heat for ten minutes, until the liquid is reduced 1/3. Strain the liquamen through a tea strainer once or twice then add the grape juice. Pour into a jar and it will keep for weeks if refrigerated. Yield 1 cup.

Works Cited:

Flower, Barbara and Elisabeth Rosenbaum; The Roman Cookery Book; a Critical Translation of The Art of Cooking by Apicius for Use in the Study and the Kitchen

The recipe for Alexandrian Cumin Bread can be found in numerous places over the internet, but mine came from a cookbook that I no longer possess due to flooding :-( Here is an identical recipe found on the web: http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/alexandrian-cumin-bread-63103#medievalfood #scafeast #scacook #historicfood

Take Orenges & coare them on the ſide and lay them in water, then boile them in fair water til they be tender, ſhift them in the boyling to take away their bitterneſſe, then take ſugar and boyle it to the height of ſirup as much as will couer them, and ſo put your Orenges into it, and that will make them take ſugar. If you haue 24. Orenges, beate 8. of them till they come to a paſte with a pounde of fine ſugar, then fill euery one of the other Orenges with the ſame, and ſo boile them again in your ſirup : then there will be marmelade of orenges with your orenges, & it will cut like an hard egge.

To preserve Oranges, after the Portugal fashion. Take Oranges and core them on the side and lay them in water, then boil them in faire water till they be tender, shift them in the boiling to take away their bitterness, then take sugar and boil it to the height of syrup as much as will cover them, and so put your oranges into it, and that will make them take sugar. If you have 24 Oranges, beat 8 of them, till they come to paste, with a pound of fine sugar, then fill every one of the other oranges with the same, and so boil them again in your syrup: then there will be marmalade of Oranges within your oranges, and it will cut like an hard egg.

Recipe

6 Oranges
Sugar
Water

Cut a hole near the stem end of your orange about the size of a 50 cent piece, and hollow out four of the oranges as best as you can. Save the pulp for the marmalade. With the remaining two oranges, quarter and remove pulp. Boil the oranges several times. My preferred method is to cover with water, bring to boil, boil approximately five minutes and drain. This is to remove the bitterness. Completing this process a minimum of three times, if you like your oranges a bit bitter (I do) or to taste.

Keep an eye on your oranges because you do not want them turning brown. Also note, they will become increasingly soft, it was easier for me to remove the whole oranges using tongs rather then a spoon. Also note--it does not feel good to sprinkle your feet with boiling water or sugar syrup...be careful!

After the oranges have been boiled and the bitterness removed, make a syrup using twice as much sugar as water that will cover your oranges. You will want to make sure you have a pot that is deep enough to hold them and to keep them slightly seperated. Heat sugar and water together until it becomes clear. Place your whole oranges into this pot and bring to a rolling boil (I didn't measure temp..sorry). Lower heat to simmer and stir constantly. Let your oranges steep in the syrup approximately 30 minutes. Remove and drain.

In the meantime, weigh your pulp and the quartered peels. Add as much sugar as pulp so that you have a 50/50 mixture, and pulse in a food processor until well blended. NOTE: There will be pulp left over! This can be added to a cake, or processed into a fruit pastille if you wish, or noshed on at will it's that good!

Once your whole oranges have steeped for at least 30 minutes, remove them from the syrup and drain. Fill the hollowed oranges with the pulp and peel mixture (see earlier cautionary note regarding sugar syrup and feet, hands, fingers...etc.) Be Careful! It's HOT and it's like napalm...the syrup doesn't want to leave your body easily. Yes, that is the voice of personal experience talking.

Return filled oranges to the syrup and steep for at least 20 minutes or more. Remove from syrup and place in fridge, hole side down to keep the beautiful shape of your orange. As they dry, the fruit pulp will crystalize, this is normal. Before serving cut into wedges like an egg.

Friday, January 2, 2015

During times of Lent, or on fasting days, it was forbidden to eat milk, meat or egg products during the middle ages. For approximately 1/3 of the year, the idea of big haunches of meat being served to the upper class in overabundance is simply untrue. Sumptuary laws also limited what could be eaten. Almonds became an important part of the meal, and indeed, many recipes that one can find in cookbooks are laden with terms such as "drawe your almond milk thick" or "mak good almounde mylk of blaunchyd almoundes". They also specify if a particular dish to be served is for "lent", using terms such as "and if it be Lent".

One of the most basic ingredients in medieval cooking is almond milk. This was such a common ingredient in cooking that the recipe per se was not written down. It was an assumption that all cooks new to do this. Harleian MS 279 gives these instructions for making almond milk.

xj. Froyde almoundys. Take blake sugre, an cold water, an do hem to in a fayre potte, an let hem boyle to-gedere, an salt it an skeme it clene, an let it kele; j^an take almaundys, an blawnche hem clene, an stampe hem, an draw hem, with fe sugre water thikke y-now, in-to a fayre vessel: an [yf] fe mylke be nojt swete y-now, take whyte sugre an caste fer-to (Internet Archive).

11. Cold Almond Milk. Take black sugar, an cold water, and do them to in a fair pot, an let them boil together, and salt it an skim it clean, an let it cool: Then take almonds, an blanche them, clean, and stamp them, and draw them, with the sugar water thick enough, into a fair vessel: an if the milk be not sweet enough, take white sugar and cast there-to.

Harleian MS 4016 gives these instructions for making almond milk.

Froyte de almondes. Take blak sugur and cold water, and caste the sugur and ])e water in a potte ; and lete liera boile togidre, and salt, and skeme hem clene, and let hit kele ; And j^cu take Almoudes, and blanche hem clene, and stampe h(!m in a morter al smal, and drawe hem thik ynowe thorgh a streyno?/r with sugur water, into a faire vesseH. And if hit so be j^at the mylke be not swete, take white sugwr and cast thereto ; And serue hit forth in manor of potage, And namly in lentoii tyme (Internet Archive).

Cold Almond Milk. Take black sugar and cold water and caste the sugar and the water in a pot; and let boil together, and salt and skim him clean, and let hit cool; and then take almonds and blanch them and clean and stamp them in a morer all small, and draw them thick enough through a strainor with sugar water into a fair vessel. And if it so be that the milk be not sweet, take white sugar and cast thereto; And serve it forth in manner of potage, and namely in lenten time.

MS Pepys 1047 also includes a recipe for almond milk written by Samual Pepys.

32. To make gode almondys mylke

Take the crushed sugar or, if not, take the purified honey, put it in the water. Put on fire and boil, carefully removing noise, aside from the heat and let cool. Then clean the almonds, put it in a mortar and thou shalt finely, mix with the water. Take brokyn sugure or for fawte ther of take claryfied hony and put hit into fayre water And set hit on the fyre and boyle hit and skymme hit clene and set hit be syde the fyre and let hit cole and then blanche thy almondys cast them yn a morter and bray them small temper hem up with þe same water (MS. Pepys 1047).

For the modern medieval cook, almond milk can be a readily available product purchased off of the store shelves. However, store bought almond milk includes ingredients that were unavailable to the medieval cook, and is a pale comparison to homemade almond milk. I would caution the budding cook to consider *how* the almond milk is to be used in their recipe before purchasing a store bought product.

Recipes for almond milk can be found in abundance by conducting an internet search. My personal favorite is the following:

Start with raw almonds, at least a cup. Soak them overnight in hot water, or, for a minimum of 8 hours. . You can rub the skins off of them or leave them on as you wish. Place the almonds in a blender with 4 cups of water and blend until a smooth puree. Strain through a cloth. Sweeten the milk to taste using honey or sugar.